


An End, A beginning

by Instantiator



Category: The Society (TV 2019)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 17:44:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19909681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Instantiator/pseuds/Instantiator
Summary: Starts where the first season ends. Will eventually become Harry/Allie but will take substantial time to get there. My hope is that the story can be told without it seeming like it is too out of the blue, and without ignoring the major story lines that are going on. As such I should say that presenting the ships is not the sole main focus of the story here. I don't do very well with that kind of writing and would only embarrass myself if I tried. The plan is to create a logical narrative in terms of what the last season left us with. And that means we have a fairly complex universe with multiple plots at the same time. It is to be hoped that the ships will appear in their logical place when it makes sense in the story.I just completed the first season (yeah, late to the party I know) and felt compelled to try to continue the narrative a bit. Unbetaed. But I have no beta anyhow.





	An End, A beginning

_Where the hell was this place_?... That was the first question that came to Allie’s mind once she had been unceremoniously pushed into this room and left alone—at least for now. Wherever it was they clearly did not feel the need to keep her handcuffed any more. Where had they taken Will? Was it another room like this? Was there a guard outside the door? There could be. Although there may not be much of a point to it. The surroundings did not seem too familiar. She knew it wasn’t the wine cellar. Had the Guard become aware of a new room that could work as a prison since Dewey’s trial? She didn’t think so. But then again perhaps they had. If recent events were anything to go by then she was not exactly up to date on the Guard’s latest activities. Were Lexie’s accusations of the Guard’s abuse of authority actually truer than Allie had ever believed? She doubted it. She would have heard something about it before that. It was not like the Guard was her only source of information. Moreover, she was quite sure that until very recently, she still had the Guard’s loyalty. Didn’t she?... Had they been against her for months now and just waiting for a chance to take her down?... No that made no sense. Grizz was in the Guard and was clearly shocked by what he had seen on his return. He wouldn’t have been so surprised if this was due to anything more than two weeks ago. Two weeks. Two fucking weeks. How had everything gone to hell in just two weeks?

She decided to lie down. There were some blankets on the floor. May as well make a rudimentary mattress out of them. She hardly felt like sleeping even though she hadn’t slept in a while. Counting sheep would hardly do it right now…

Okay she needs to focus. How was she going to get out of this? Could she get out of this? The planners of this coup would undoubtedly want to make it impossible. Who were they? For now, she was not entirely sure who the main players here were. She had very limited information. She had been accused of planning to steal the election. What would happen now? They were in the dark ages. Nothing could be said with certainty. Would she and Will be given a trial? She had established a precedent by holding one for Dewey. But try as she might to publicly underplay it—she thought it made it easier for everyone—she knew full well that this was no longer the United States of America in any sense. She had to rely on the fact that the teens living in the New World still retained enough of the values they had learned to feel that a conviction or perpetual incarceration without trial was not acceptable. Were they? What if they decided to just execute her right here and now? What if Clark just walked in this very moment and shot her in the head? Well then that would be that. There was little point to thinking like that because she could do nothing about it if that happened. Would pleading desperately work if she was suddenly about to be shot? It hadn’t for Dewey. But Dewey was accused of far worse than her. _And he was guilty_. Or at least she thought so. _I am innocent_. Very well then desperate pleading it was if someone was about to just shoot her. It may fail but there was nothing else she could do either. What exactly would they accuse her of? If they gave her a trial that is…

It didn’t seem like they had much. _Am I just being delusionally optimistic? Let’s hope not_. The election had never taken place. There had been no voting. They could not accuse her of actually tampering with a vote that had never taken place. So, it could only be that she was planning to somehow tamper with the vote _when_ it took place. How bad was it to have simply planned crime but never committed it? Surely it could not be in the same class as having committed it. If the only evidence was Luke’s false testimony, then it could even be argued that he had just misunderstood a humorous conversation. _No, come on Allie. Some of them are idiots but not all of them. Campbell is with them too. No way will he make a plan that weak_. But what then? _How big a part of this is Campbell anyhow_? That was what she still didn’t know. If she wanted to understand the strategy of her captors, she needed to understand the dynamics of what was going on. But the information was lacking.

Nontheless, since there was little to do in this cell, she may as well try to make her best guesses and see where they lead. Clearly Grizz had no idea what was going on here. However, the Guard were essential to the plans of whoever the main players here were. So, what had happened in the last two weeks to make the Guard turn on her? There was one obvious answer: Her unwillingness to let them run for positions. **_That was a major mistake Allie. You should have let them run. None of them had a serious chance of winning anyhow. Before Lexie jumping in people by and large thought that Allie was doing a good job._** _Hell, even Helena thought so_. But Allie had blocked them on the basis of a principle. A Principle that made sense in the Old World. But did it make sense here? And even if it did, she should have announced it beforehand so as not to offend them by denying their entry after the fact. That had been perceived by them as a betrayal. As if Allie had not been sufficiently grateful for their contributions. Anyhow, spilt milk now… But what now? She knew that Jason and Clark didn’t have the brains to pull off something like this while Shoe was too new to be anything but a follower. Grizz was away when it happened. That left Luke. His betrayal stung the most. He was one of those who had pushed her to take the reins and restore order in the first place. He had sworn to stand by her side. Even when she had feared that they were killing her. That she would be killed just like Cassandra was killed. And now he was part of the coup and repeating an accusation that he knew for a fact was false. Was he the main player here? Or at least one of them? Had he turned the Guard against her? However, what would that accomplish? He wanted to run for Mayor and the system they have put in place still leaves him as the leader of the Guard with Harry and Lexie as the Mayors. It does not look like his position improves at all. Luke had said that they gave him nothing at all for doing this when she had asked him. Then why would he do this? Vengeance against her disallowing him to run? If he was really this angry then why not argue with her more forcefully? He was the one to shut down Jason and Clark when they had started angrily protesting her decision. Would he not express some of his anger to Helena? Would Helena really have been as supportive of Allie as she had been recently if her significant other had really hated Allie so much? It didn’t make much sense. Could Allie have misjudged Luke this much? She thought he was a man of conscience. At least to some degree. He had promised to support her loyally when he had forced her into this position. And by all indications he had. Was he the main player here? The biggest indications against it however, was his own behavior. He had the look of someone who was being forced. Not of someone acting on his own. But what could force him? **_A threat to Helena could do it_**. But who would make such a threat? Whatever may be the case, the bro-code was too strong in the members of the Guard to think about threatening the girlfriend and future wife of one of them on their own _. But Campbell could certainly do it_. In fact, now that she thinks of it she remembers how Elle showed her the video of Helena sleeping that Campbell had sent her. Was Campbell the major player here then?

It may well be. Campbell at least seemed o outrank Luke in the conspiracy. This much seemed clear now. Campbell had asked Elle to step forward and spit in Allie’s face. He had seemed to be ready to hit Will, only stopping at the last second. And Luke had been silent all through. She remembered how Luke had shared her own discomfort when Dewey was mistreated as a prisoner. Yet he said nothing when Campbell was mistreating her and Will, even though he knows they are innocent. _Which means he has little to no power against Campbell at this juncture_. That is both good news and bad news. Good news in the sense that unlike the stupider members of the Guard Campbell has enough good sense to not just think that he can shoot Allie and Will and things will work out because they have some force. He thinks long term and would want to have control for much longer. So, he is likely to give Allie a trial. **_Or have me murdered and then scapegoat one of the stupider members of the guard as having done it in his democratic rage_**. Okay best not to have panic attack… Besides that, option would create a thousand problems of its own. First no election, then a murder without trial. It would begin to look like the coup it was. So hopefully Campbell wouldn’t do that. _Hopefully_. The bad news was that Campbell would be quite meticulous in trying to make the trial look legitimate and the conviction look proper. But this would also mean a fairly complex proceeding. And if Allie had realized one thing in office, it was that the world is too damn complex for your initial plans to work out exactly as you had planned. Campbell may be a masterly psychopathic manipulator, but he had no experience of how to run things. Nor did Harry or Lexie. All the important memory associated with the million little things Allie had to take care of to make sure the ship didn’t sink were not available to them. They will end up fucking up in many places. Allie had planned to help out anyone else in that position by telling them whatever they needed to know (even if it had been Lexie) for the good of the town. But that could hardly happen now. And those would be the exact places she needed to exploit. _If she could_. Campbell seemed full of confidence right now. Her best hope was that the overconfidence will lead to his downfall.

Who else? Was Lexie behind it too? Was she a major player? Much as Allie would like another reason to hate the girl, it seemed unlikely that she was a planner here. Lexie was close to pulling off an electoral victory here that would have granted her fully legitimized authority. Allie’s final Hail Mary had been Grizz’s expedition to find new land and resources. Although she had hoped for its success desperately, she had not fully believed in it. Not really. She had known, however, that a positive result on this could save her political life and turn back the wave of negative opinion against her that Lexie had started. What an irony that the expedition had been successful but the election where she could have used it had never happened. No Lexie was not a planner. Part of Lexie’s entire campaign had been to condemn the Guard’s power and overreach. To portray the Guard as Allie’s personal “goon squad” and what not. Why would she make common cause with them? _Because all Lexie really wanted was power, Allie_. She should have seen it from the get-go. She kept trying to defend herself against the accusation of being power hungry, not realizing that Lexie was not able to see her anything else because that was exactly who she herself had become. Perhaps if Allie had taken more serious notice of her complaint when the Guard mistreated her it may have gone differently—it certainly wouldn’t have given her the ammunition she had in the election. Of course, back then Allie was 90% sure Lexie was behind a mass poisoning so sympathy for her was hard to create. And then Allie had decided not to play dirty in the election by making her suspicions regarding Lexie and her reasons for them public. It would have worked, of course. If Lexie had taught them anything, it was how easy it was to run a smear campaign. Allie could have spread the suspicion about Lexie being the probable poisoner everywhere. She could have even accused her of ruining the Guard’s good name by publicly making false accusations and baseless exaggerations against them and her. Lexie’s nervousness in the face of face of difficult situations was well known. Hell, she had locked herself in her house for over a week after Cassandra’s death out of fear while Allie was restoring order to the town despite being in mourning. She had even missed Cassandra’s funeral. Everyone knew this. It wasn’t like Elle was going to come forward and take responsibility when Allie was protecting her. Lexie had no proof whatsoever. But Allie had decided to run a clean campaign. And Lexie had grown ever more arrogant. No, it was power for Lexie. The Guard had made her feel powerless and she wanted power _at any cost_. Even if it meant making peace with the very forces she was opposing. One day she refused to work with the Guard because they had “too much power”, the next day she is becoming the public mouthpiece justifying and legitimizing the coup. Allie knew that Lexie had to know that she was justifying a false narrative. _But she was doing a good job of it. She stepped forward and sold the lie to the people of the town. Campbell would not have been able to do that_. Maybe Allie should have played dirty. Clearly Lexie had no problem making a deal with the devil. So, Lexie was not a planner. _But she has to be a player_. She showed very little of the painful reluctance Luke was showing. Campbell must have made her a deal and she took it _. Scruples be damned_... Allie though bitterly… **_and she called me power hungry and corrupt_**!

What about Harry? He had been made co-mayor. He had no chance of winning at that stage yet he was still given this position. Why? Allie wondered if he was a planner alongside Campbell. Was he capable of something like this? Allie was not sure. Part of her hoped not. However, it made perfect sense that Harry would be able to bring more legitimacy to Campbell’s voice when he negotiated with others. The whole town hated Campbell. But Harry was not hated like that. He had wanted people out of his house. As mayor he had the power to accomplish that. He certainly had the motivation. For some reason it hurt to think that Harry would do something like this. In fact it even hurt that he was running in the first place. It felt like he was saying that she hadn’t done a good job. _But he clearly is_. There was no denying it.

What arrangements had they made for her to go to the bathroom? She may as well make sure before she felt the need.

“Hey! Anyone! I need to pee!” Nothing. She continued to make noise until… her door opened, and Jason showed up. _So, someone is guarding me_. “Here,” he said. And tossed an empty water bottle to her. Then he left. Allie was in too much shock. This was some weird nightmare. She had to wake up. _No one was this stupid_. This was insane.

“Do you remember the difference between males and females? And the part where we don’t have penises?” But it was all in vain. He did not come back. Wonderful. Something to remember when someone with half a braincell comes by. Fine back to her make shift bed. She supposes that when the time really came, she could do nothing but pee in the other corner of the room… _and get used to the smell, I guess_ … at least on that living in the Old West Ham with its terrible smell had given her excellent practice.

Alright then. So, Campbell and possibly Harry were the main players here. What would they do? That wasn’t very clear. They had arrested both her and Will. What was the point of arresting Will? He had no independent popularity or political power of his own— _even though he sometimes talks like he was co-mayor_. In fact, even for Allie he was somewhat of a liability when it came to the election. It wasn’t his fault. He had extreme privilege working against him. Most kids, whether they wanted to admit it or not, looked down on him because he did not come from a similar background. Dewey had even given voice to the racist bias against him when he had expressed his hatred for her and her “black boyfriend” at the end of his trial. Why arrest him too?... A terrible thought occurred to her: Maybe they want to offer him a deal to stay safe if he turns on me and accuses me of trying to steal the election as well. His testimony would be extremely damaging to Allie since people think he loves her (however skeptical of that Allie may be herself). **_Would Will turn on me like that_**? Allie had to confess she couldn’t be sure. She had not exactly been sending him consistent signals of late.

A memory came back to her. Campbell telling her that she couldn’t kill him and let Dewey go. The same was true here. Campbell could not convict Will and let Allie go. _But he can convict me and let Will go_. Which means that his plan may well be to offer Will’s freedom to her in exchange for a confession of her own guilt. That would make everyone’s life easy. If Allie confessed, they would have no reason to hold a trial, find a convincingly impartial jury and so on. It would make sense with Campbell’s way of thinking:

**_First ask Chloe to confess and incriminate herself by promising to free Will if she did. If she complied, then all problems were solved. Allie would be convicted, and the coup will work. On the other hand, if she didn’t comply then tell Will that Allie had refused to save him and make him feel betrayed, hence encouraging him to turn on her._ **

It was a plan worthy of Campbell. It could even work. One of Will’s biggest issues was his feeling that he was not valued enough. If Campbell could convince him that Allie didn’t actually value him much, that _may_ be enough to turn Will against her. She hoped it wouldn’t. But if she was completely honest with herself, she could not be sure of it. She would have to be very careful about this possibility…

So it was clear that Allie’s best option was to try to get to a trial without either her or Will confessing. Simply because a trial was elaborate and harder to control. The more the variables, the greater the uncertainty, and the harder would it be for Campbell to make sure everything went his way.

What would happen in a trial anyhow? Assuming she somehow managed to get to it without Will confessing, Campbell would need the death penalty to apply. This much was rather clear. At least to Allie. She doubted it was obvious to any of his co-conspirators or pawns. But Campbell could not afford to let her live. The accusations were false. And given time Allie could start regaining the trust of some people. Exiling her would be too risky since just like Dewey she could secretly come back. And perpetual incarceration was not an option just as it hadn’t been for Dewey. Giving her moths or even years of the worst jobs would still be too risky. Once the wave of anger against her washed over and people realized that Lexie could do no better than the rules Allie had made and enforced, and that Allie was not the one to blame for everything under the sun, perceptions would change. Campbell could not afford to have her around for when that happened. _Or if he’s foolish enough maybe he will; maybe he’ll just be short-sighted and take pleasure from humiliating me publicly in petty ways… and eventually that would create enough sympathy for me that tide of opinion will turn back in my favor…_

However, that was highly unlikely. If Lexie were the mastermind then sure, that is exactly what she would have done. Campbell was cleverer than that. The death penalty it had to be. But on what basis? Election tampering was not a capital offence even in the Old World. And this election had not even taken place. So there was no actual tampering. There was only one thing Allie could think of: the pretext had to be _treason_. It sounded ridiculous when she recalled that New Ham was not a country and they were not citizens of it. They were still actively trying to find their way back home! Treason would be extremely hard to define in such a context. Although she imagines that Campbell will probably come up with some garbled justification for it. The truth was that there really was nothing here that could convincingly be used for the justification of the death penalty. _Which means that it will have to come as a total surprise and then be carried out at once before anyone has a chance to react_. Unfortunately, she had already set a precedent for it when she had not announced possible penalties before Dewey’s trial. _But murder as a capital offence is still easy to swallow_. She would have to argue against that here. In other words, she would have to demand that they make clear at the very beginning of the trial whether the death penalty was on the table. She’d ask her lawyer to do that. If the lawyer didn’t agree she’d shout it out herself at the trial in front of everyone. She ** _needed_** the question to be raised at the very start of the trial. That would make it hard for them to carry it out all of a sudden. People maybe angry at her for now but Lexie’s decision to continue with Allie’s rules and announcement that things would only change slowly would already have dulled much of that. Before the election Lexie had people thinking that she would be able to change things at once. Now they know that was nonsense. She also hoped that the good result of Grizz’s expedition would win her some good will. It had been her idea and her insistence that had led to it. None of the candidates had produced any ideas on what to do about the real problems the community faced. And now the land Grizz had found may well be the thing that helps them survive. Forcing the court to say yay or nay to the death penalty at the very beginning of the trial was **_necessary_**.

That made her think about her legal representation. Who would it be? She had given Dewey, Helena. But she was actually trying to have a fair trial. Would they give her Helena too? Would that be proper in this case? Helena was effectively married to Luke. And Luke had very clearly taken a side on this issue. He may even be a main witness. Helena was not an appropriate choice. _But she doesn’t have to be does she? She only needs to perceived to be by the majority_. Allie wondered if Helena would be a useful choice for her purposes. If it was her then Allie would essentially have to try to convince her that Luke was lying. Which may not be an easy task. Perhaps they could give her Kelly. Kelly would be more sympathetic and objective no doubt. She wondered though, if Kelly would really be able to be forceful and aggressive when needed. _She can certainly give Harry a scolding,_ Allie thought with amusement. Who else? Grizz? Possibly. The science squad of Gordie and Bean? Maybe. They were all people who Allie felt still had a positive view of her and her administration. Gordie had been the lead prosecutor against Dewey. Would he do the same against Allie. She hoped not. He was too intelligent to have on the other side. She was quite sure that he was not happy with things as they were. He had also been one of those who had pushed Allie to take over as mayor and was clearly loyal enough to stand by her even when the guard had come in with hostile intentions. No. Allie may not be Cassandra, but she still thought that Gordie was one of those whose loyalty she could believe in. **_Why did Campbell let him go_**? Well that seems obvious: Firstly, Gordie’s medical skills are indispensable. Even Campbell has to recognizer that. His scientific skills are no less important. _Basically, he is needed because any administration at all will need his skills_. Secondly it can not look like they are intentionally going after every one of Allie’s supporters. The more people they accuse of being in on the conspiracy the stupider will the charges look. Now Allie hopes that this decision about Gordie turns into a major oversight on Campbell’s part. She already has some plans in motion that involve Gordie. Of course, she didn’t know when she put them in motion that she would need them for this reason. But it was why she was so desperate that Gordie made it out and did not get arrested. _Please understand my purpose Gordie, you can actually do major damage to Campbell’s plans from the outside… if you understand what I meant…_ And suddenly she was once again increasingly aware of her right calf and thankful that no one had bothered to search it…

It also gave her an interesting argument. Lexie had assumed office on the pretext that it was only too obvious that she would have won. But if that were so, Lexie would have immediately challenged the results of the election would she not? She had shown quite clearly that rules and procedure would not cower her. She had ignored the rules at the debate. And had such a challenge been made, Allie would have had no easy way out of it other than to allow an investigation. And an investigation would have involved Gordie, who was New Ham’s best approximation of a forensic expert as well. By freeing Gordie, the conspirators had effectively exonerated him. But if Allie was serious about stealing the election then she would have had to try to bring Gordie in on her side to support it. It was simple common sense. He had the skills to expose election fraud and probably those needed to hide it. At least in New Ham. So, if Allie had not brought him in, could she really have been serious about it?

Hell, she should probably ask to represent herself at this juncture. But it would depend on who appoint as her lawyer. Having a lawyer had major advantages. Her lawyer could do work on the outside that she could not. Could meet with people. Plan with people etc. But it had to be someone she could trust. If it wasn’t then she may be better off demanding to represent herself. She knew everyone had watched enough TV to know that such an option was available to the defendant … _in the United States of America, which this is certainly not_ , a small voice said…

Who would be the judge? Lexie seemed like the most logical choice. Not only was she the mayor—and Allie herself had established that precedent too—but the conspirators probably understood that it was unwise to have a female Mayor removed by an all-male clique. Lexie would serve as a good figurehead. On the other hand, Lexie was directly one of her accusers. So was Harry. Allie could try to make some fuss over that. Lexie had spent all too much time publicly hating on Allie to claim to be impartial any more. Maybe they would be forced to change the judge. Allie had at least not done that with Dewey. _What if they made Campbell the judge instead_? A horrifying thought. But most of the town still feared and loathed him too much for that to work. He could be the puppet-master behind the scenes, but he could not be their face in public. Lexie was the most rational choice if they wanted to rig the trial. Would she award the death sentence? Who knows? Lexie may feel it is ultimate revenge. Allie would do her best to insist that if this is false then this is murder pure and simple. Would Lexie fall so low? Allie hoped not. She could not be sure, but it was still an avenue to explore.

Should she simply confess to save Will from the death penalty? Couldn’t both of them be killed if they went to trial. Allie personally had nothing to lose as Campbell need to neutralize her, but he could let Will go. Allie spent some time thinking over this. A selfish part of her certainly would not agree to this sacrificial move. No you must fight. Another part of her also reasoned that it would be wrong for her to give up on principle. She had to fight and do everything she possibly could to beat back this coup. If she didn’t then the tradition of a government carried out by force and coups would become firmly established in the New World. _It had to fail_. Finally, Allie did not really think Campbell intended to execute Will. Executions were hard to convince people of. Allie was the only execution the Campbell needed. The wiser move with Will was to convict him but give him a lighter sentence (like terrible jobs etc.). Killing him was unnecessary while sparing him seemed generous and magnanimous on the part of the new government. Was this just self-serving thinking on her part though? She didn’t think so. But it could be. However, a choice had to be so Allie made it. Weighing all the options, she realized that **_she could not confess under any pressure_**. And she had to hope that Will wouldn’t do so either. So, she had to be very careful about what she said and how she acted…

Cold water…was it water? It smelled a bit like coffee… was suddenly poured over her face. Clearly, she had dozed off somewhere in the middle of all her planning. And now a most unwelcome sight…

“Wakey, wakey cousin!” he said with a smug smirk. Well then…


End file.
